Featured Image from URL Pro extends FIFU for WordPress sites that assign media from URLs instead of storing every original locally. FIFU Free supports remote featured images and main WooCommerce product images. Pro includes featured video and audio, sliders, image and video galleries, variation media, and more automation and integrations. Remote originals can stay at their source; Pro can also download supported images to the WordPress Media Library when local copies are needed.

Use supported media with posts, pages, custom post types, WooCommerce products and categories, and supported taxonomy terms. For external images, use a direct URL that is publicly accessible and allows external show. Loading depends on the source host, file size, caching and CDN settings.

Video previews and playback

Featured video can use supported services such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Cloudflare Stream, Bunny Stream and Google Drive, as well as local Media Library videos and remote video documents. Supported audio sources include services such as Spotify and SoundCloud. Browser and provider playback restrictions still apply.

A remote video needs a remote featured image for its thumbnail. For a video in the Media Library, pick a frame and save it as the thumbnail. Video previews can display a play button. The player can use controls and a minimum width, and show a thumbnail when its container is too narrow. Autoplay is available for YouTube, Vimeo, Odysee, Rumble, and local or remote video files. Hover playback and looping work with YouTube, Vimeo, and local or remote files. Muting is available for videos; Watch Later and Queue buttons work with compatible featured videos.

WooCommerce galleries and variations

Create product galleries with multiple remote images and videos, or use the FIFU product gallery for compatible products. Set remote images for individual product variations and add a separate image gallery to each variation. Compatible product images can use WooCommerce lightbox and zoom.

Other store utilities include automatic product category images, Quick Buy previews with buying controls on compatible shop pages, and adding a product image to WooCommerce order emails. Product images can be found using an ASIN. Supported remote images can also be downloaded to the Media Library.

Automatic assignment and integrations

Set featured media from post content, a title-based image search, a web page URL, a custom field or a website screenshot. FIFU PRO can search for candidate featured images and assign product images from ASINs. It also supports configured automatic sharing processes for Facebook, Instagram and X.

For data workflows, Pro includes WP-CLI and REST API integrations, plus support for WP All Import, WP All Export, compatible WooCommerce CSV imports and WebToffee product import and export. Other integrations cover Elementor, Gravity Forms, Dokan, bbPress, BuddyBoss Platform, WPML, Polylang, WooCommerce Multilingual, WP Sheet Editor and WooCommerce Bulk Editor. Available fields depend on each integration and its supported workflow.

Image delivery and cloud storage

FIFU CDN can deliver remote images with responsive sizes where available. FIFU Cloud is a separate service that delivers cloud storage, optimized thumbnails, automatic upload and deletion scheduling, and hotlink protection. Its image processing and delivery use Google Cloud. Pro also includes featured sliders, shortcodes, media popups, image click redirection and developer functions for featured videos, sliders, product image lists, product video lists and product category videos.

When media does not appear

If an image fails to load, check that its URL points directly to a publicly accessible image and that the source site allows external display. If the image appears twice, check whether the theme already shows the featured image while FIFU is also set to add it to post content. When a settings change does not appear immediately, clear relevant website or CDN caches and reload the page.

Configure FIFU in WordPress, assign a supported image or video URL to the relevant content or product, then preview the display. Before removing FIFU, review its metadata cleanup options. Themes and plugins that rely on FIFU to display remote featured images may stop showing them after the plugin is removed.